The 91st Reconnaissance Squadron was originally organized as a mechanized cavalry reconnaissance squadron in the 1st Cavalry Division. It was the oldest and most experienced squadron (battalion) sized mechanized reconnaissance unit in the Army. It completed six campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy during World War II, while attached to various infantry and armored divisions. The 91st Cavalry Recon Squadron was a non-divisional unit and reported directly to the Army's II Corps. The unit was deactivated on 23 June 1953.

The 91st Reconnaissance Squadron was re-activated, re-organized, and re-designated the 1st Squadron (Airborne), 91st Cavalry Regiment on 8 June 2006, at Conn Barracks in Schweinfurt, Germany. This reactivation was part of the transition of the 173rd Airborne Brigade to the U.S. Army's new modular force structure. This reactivation was the first time the colors of the 1st Squadron (Airborne), 91st Cavalry Regiment had flown since the end of World War II.

Soon after returning to Germany from OEF XIII in March 2013, 1-91 CAV moved from Conn Barracks in Schweinfurt to Tower Barracks in Grafenwöhr due to a Brigade realignment and the imminent closure of USAG Schweinfurt. After moving to Tower Barracks, 1-91 CAV shifted focus from the OEF mission to Airborne proficiency, and NATO support and tactical reassurance. Since 2013, 1-91 CAV has conducted operations in Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, France, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, and Israel in addition to its German home. Most notably, 1-91 CAV represented the United States in several internationally recognized NATO exercises to include: Operation Steadfast Jazz, Operation Atlantic Resolve and Operation Saber Junction.

(From Citation) "...On 31 July 1943, near Gagliano, Sicily, a detachment of one officer and nine enlisted men, including Sergeant Kisters, advancing ahead of the leading elements of U.S. troops to fill a large crater in the only available vehicle route through Gagliano, was taken under fire by two enemy machineguns. Sergeant Kisters and the officer, unaided and in the face of intense small arms fire, advanced on the nearest machinegun emplacement and succeeded in capturing the gun and its crew of four. Although the greater part of the remaining small arms fire was now directed on the captured machinegun position, Sergeant Kisters voluntarily advanced alone toward the second gun emplacement. While creeping forward, he was struck five times by enemy bullets, receiving wounds in both legs and his right arm. Despite the wounds, he continued to advance on the enemy, and captured the second machinegun after killing three of its crew and forcing the fourth member to flee."

1LT Gerry H. Kisters was the first serviceman to be awarded both the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross during World War II.

(From Citation) "...In May 1943, Ferryville, Tunisia, Sergeant Kisters made several individual reconnaissance missions, returning each time with timely and valuable information concerning location of artillery emplacements. Alone, and while subjected to enemy heavy artillery and concentrated machine gun fire, and individual rifle fire, Sergeant Kisters crept forward on an artillery piece which was firing on our forces. By the effective use of his hand grenades and rifle fire, Sergeant Kisters wiped out the entire crew."

SGT Peter T. Perkins - 3 Aug 1943, Sicily, Italy

(Synopsis, Citation Needed) "...Sergeant Peter T. Perkins (ASN: 18009273), United States Army, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with the 91st Reconnaissance Squadron, in action against enemy forces on 27 July 1943. Sergeant Perkins' intrepid actions, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty at the cost of his life, exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army."

LTC Charles A. Ellis - 2–3 July 1944, Serrazzone, Fonano, Italy

(Synopsis, Citation Needed) "...The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Charles A. Ellis, Lieutenant Colonel (Cavalry), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy in action against enemy forces on 2 and 3 July 1944. Lieutenant Colonel Ellis' intrepid actions, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army."

1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci

2.
United States Army
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The United States Army is the largest branch of the United States Armed Forces and performs land-based military operations. After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784, the United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army, and dates its institutional inception from the origin of that armed force in 1775. As a uniformed service, the Army is part of the Department of the Army. As a branch of the forces, the mission of the U. S. The branch participates in conflicts worldwide and is the major ground-based offensive and defensive force of the United States, the United States Army serves as the land-based branch of the U. S. Section 3062 of Title 10, U. S, the army was initially led by men who had served in the British Army or colonial militias and who brought much of British military heritage with them. As the Revolutionary War progressed, French aid, resources, a number of European soldiers came on their own to help, such as Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, who taught Prussian Army tactics and organizational skills. The army fought numerous pitched battles and in the South in 1780–81 sometimes used the Fabian strategy and hit-and-run tactics, hitting where the British were weakest, to wear down their forces. Washington led victories against the British at Trenton and Princeton, but lost a series of battles in the New York and New Jersey campaign in 1776, with a decisive victory at Yorktown, and the help of the French, the Continental Army prevailed against the British. After the war, though, the Continental Army was quickly given land certificates, State militias became the new nations sole ground army, with the exception of a regiment to guard the Western Frontier and one battery of artillery guarding West Points arsenal. However, because of continuing conflict with Native Americans, it was realized that it was necessary to field a trained standing army. The War of 1812, the second and last war between the United States and Great Britain, had mixed results. After taking control of Lake Erie in 1813, the U. S. Army seized parts of western Upper Canada, burned York and defeated Tecumseh, which caused his Western Confederacy to collapse. Following U. S. victories in the Canadian province of Upper Canada, British troops, were able to capture and burn Washington, which was defended by militia, in 1814. Two weeks after a treaty was signed, Andrew Jackson defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans and Siege of Fort St. Philip, U. S. troops and sailors captured HMS Cyane, Levant, and Penguin in the final engagements of the war. Per the treaty, both sides, the United States and Great Britain, returned to the status quo. Both navies kept the warships they had seized during the conflict, the armys major campaign against the Indians was fought in Florida against Seminoles. It took long wars to defeat the Seminoles and move them to Oklahoma

3.
173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team
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The 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team is an airborne infantry brigade combat team of the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy. It is the United States European Commands conventional airborne strategic response force for Europe, activated in 1915, as the 173d Infantry Brigade, the unit saw service in World War I, but is best known for its actions during the Vietnam War. The brigade was the first major United States Army ground formation deployed in Vietnam, serving there from 1965 to 1971 and losing almost 1,800 soldiers. Noted for its roles in Operation Hump and Operation Junction City, the 173d is best known for the Battle of Dak To, Brigade members received over 7,700 decorations, including more than 6,000 Purple Hearts. The remaining units of the 173d were inactivated, since its reactivation in 2000, the brigade served five tours in the Middle East in support of the War on Terror. The brigade returned recently from a deployment stretching from late 2013 to late 2014, the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team serves as the conventional airborne strategic response force for Europe. It is a unit of the U. S. Armys V Corps and after June 2013. The 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team currently consists of 3,300 soldiers in seven subordinate battalions, the units two active paratrooper infantry battalions are the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 503rd Infantry Regiment, an association that can be traced back to the units Vietnam service. It has one National Guard paratrooper infantry battalion, the 1st Battalion, the 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment is the brigades light reconnaissance battalion, and the 4th Battalion, 319th Field Artillery Regiment its field artillery battalion. Providing combat support to the brigade is the 54th Brigade Engineer Battalion, the 173rd Support Battalion provides logistics and combat health support to the brigade. All of these including the 4–319th FAR are airborne qualified. In August 2016 the 1st Battalion 143d Infantry Regiment became part of the brigade under the Armys Associated United Pilot Program. Four months later, the returned to the United States. It was reorganized in December 1921 at Mobile, Alabama, redesignated on 23 March 1925 as the HHC 173rd Brigade, during World War II, brigades were eliminated from divisions. Consequently, the HHC 173rd Infantry Brigade was designated as the 87th Reconnaissance Troop in February 1942, the troop entered combat in 1944 and fought in three European campaigns, central Europe, the Rhineland and Ardennes-Alsace operations. After the war, the troop reverted to reserve status and was posted at Birmingham, on 1 December 1951, the troop was inactivated and released from its assignment to the 87th Infantry Division. From 1961 to 1963, the Army began reorganizing its force so that division would have a similar structure. This move was called the Reorganization Objective Army Division plan, the plan eliminated regiments but reintroduced brigades to the Armys structure, allowing three brigades to a division

4.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed

5.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan

6.
Operation Enduring Freedom
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Operation Enduring Freedom comprises several subordinate operations, Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan, lasted from October 2001 to 31 December 2014. Government used the term Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan to officially describe the War in Afghanistan, continued operations in Afghanistan by the United States military forces, both non-combat and combat, now occur under the name Operation Freedoms Sentinel. In September 2001, U. S. President George W, the term OEF-A typically refers to the phase of the War in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. Other operations, such as the Georgia Train and Equip Program, are loosely or nominally connected. All the operations, however, have a focus on counterterrorism activities, Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan, which was a joint U. S. U. K. and Afghan operation, was separate from the International Security Assistance Force, which was an operation of North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations including the U. S. and the U. K. The two operations ran in parallel, although it had suggested that they merge. S. and British ships. The initial military objectives of OEF-A, as articulated by President George W, of those groups included are Abu Sayyaf Group, al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah. The operation consisted of training the AFP in counter-terrorist operations as well as supporting the people with humanitarian aid in Operation Smiles. In October 2002, the Combined Task Force 150 and United States military Special Forces established themselves in Djibouti at Camp Lemonnier, the stated goals of the operation were to provide humanitarian aid and patrol the Horn of Africa to reduce the abilities of terrorist organizations in the region. The military aspect involves coalition forces searching and boarding ships entering the region for illegal cargo as well as providing training, the humanitarian aspect involves building schools, clinics and water wells to enforce the confidence of the local people. Since 2001, the expenditure by the U. S. government on Operation Enduring Freedom has exceeded $150 billion. The operation continues, with military direction mostly coming from United States Central Command, seizing upon a power vacuum after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan after their invasion, the Taliban assumed the role of government from 1996–2001. Their extreme interpretation of Islamic law prompted them to ban music, television, sports, and dancing, amputation was an accepted form of punishment for stealing, and public executions could often be seen at the Kabul football stadium. Womens rights groups around the world were frequently critical as the Taliban banned women from appearing in public or holding many jobs outside the home and they drew further criticism when they destroyed the Buddhas of Bamyan, historical statues nearly 1500 years old, because the Buddhas were considered idols. In 1996, Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden moved to Afghanistan upon the invitation of the Northern Alliance leader Abdur Rabb ur Rasool Sayyaf, when the Taliban came to power, bin Laden was able to forge an alliance between the Taliban and his al-Qaeda organization. It is understood that al-Qaeda-trained fighters known as the 055 Brigade were integrated with the Taliban army between 1997 and 2001 and it has been suggested that the Taliban and bin Laden had very close connections. On 20 September 2001, the U. S. stated that Osama bin Laden was behind the 11 September attacks in 2001, the US made a five-point ultimatum to the Taliban, Deliver to the U. S

7.
89th Cavalry Regiment (United States)
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The 89th Cavalry Regiment is a Regiment of the United States Army first established in 1940. Constituted 1 June 1940 in the Regular Army as the 10th Antitank Battalion, redesignated 99th Antitank Battalion,11 June 1940. Redesignated 99th Infantry Battalion and activated at Fort Lewis Wa.1 July 1940, redesignated 99th Infantry Antitank Battalion,24 July 1941. Redesignated 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion 15 December 1941, inactivated 27 December 1945 at Camp Kilmer NJ. Redesignated 899th Tank Battalion,23 July 1953 Activated 17 January 1955 in Germany, attached below the shield a Blue scroll inscribed READY NOW in Silver letters. e. to stop the advance of enemy tanks by obstacles strewn in their path and sharp attack from all points. The silver bend represents the path to be traveled as well as Highway 99, the birthplace of the unit. The inverted pile shooting forward from this further illustrates advance. Background The distinctive unit insignia was approved for the 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion on 6 August 1942. It was redesignated for the 899th Tank Battalion on 25 April 1956, the insignia was redesignated for the 89th Cavalry Regiment on 23 December 2004. Shield Azure, semé of caltrops Argent, on a bend of the second an elongated inverted pile of the first. Crest On a wreath of the colors Argent and Azure upon a wheel of a tank track Proper issuant from base a lion passant guardant Or. Motto READY NOW. e. to stop the advance of tanks by obstacles strewn in their path. The silver bend represents the path to be traveled as well as Highway 99, the birthplace of the unit. The inverted pile shooting forward from this further illustrates advance. Crest World War II campaigns in Europe, Italy and the Rhineland are recalled by the lion, the geared wheel refers to Tank Battalion heritage and Tank Destroyer history. Gold symbolizes excellence, the grey and Sable of the wheel denote strength, background The coat of arms was originally approved for the 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion on 6 August 1942. It was redesignated for the 899th Tank Battalion on 25 April 1956, the insignia was redesignated for the 89th Cavalry Regiment on 23 December 2004. The coat of arms was amended to add a crest on 9 February 2005, 1st Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment 3d Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment World War II Tunisia Rome-Arno Normandy Northern France Rhineland Ardennes-Alsace Central Europe Coats of arms of U. S

8.
Airborne forces
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Airborne forces are military units, usually light infantry, set up to be moved by aircraft and dropped into battle, typically by parachute. Thus, they can be placed behind enemy lines, and have the capability to deploy almost anywhere with little warning. The formations are limited only by the number and size of their aircraft, so given enough capacity a huge force can appear out of nowhere in minutes, Major Lewis H. Brereton and his superior Brigadier General Billy Mitchell suggested dropping elements of the U. S. 1st Division behind German lines near Metz, the operation was planned for February 1919 but the war ended before such an attack could be seriously planned. Mitchell conceived that US troops could be trained to utilize parachutes. Following the war, the United States Army Air Service experimented with the concept of having carried on the wings of aircraft pulled off by the opening of their parachutes. The first true paratroop drop was by Italy in November 1927, within a few years several battalions had been raised and were eventually formed into two Folgore and Nembo divisions. Although these would fight with distinction in World War II. Men drawn from the Italian parachute forces were dropped in a special operation in North Africa in 1943 in an attempt to destroy parked aircraft of the United States Army Air Forces. Subsequently, on May 10,1928, Second Lieutenant César Álvarez War Palmas Las voluntarily jumped from a height of 3,000 meters, then on May 16,1928, Major Fernando Melgar Conde and Sergeant 1st. Jose Pineda Castro, jumped from the famous Las Palmas at altitudes of 2,000 and 4,300 meters, at about the same time, the Soviet Union was also experimenting with the idea, planning to drop entire units complete with vehicles and light tanks. To help train enough experienced jumpers, parachute clubs were organized with the aim of transferring into the armed forces if needed, one of the observing parties, Germany, was particularly interested. In 1936, Major F. W. Immans was ordered to set up a school at Stendal. The military had purchased large numbers of Junkers Ju 52 aircraft which were slightly modified for use as paratroop transports in addition to their other duties. The first training class was known as Ausbildungskommando Immans and they commenced the first course on May 3,1936. Other nations, including Argentina, Peru, Japan, France, France became the first nation to organize women in an airborne unit. Recruiting 200 nurses who during peacetime would parachute into natural disasters, several groups within the German armed forces attempted to raise their own paratroop formations, resulting in confusion. As a result, Luftwaffe General Kurt Student was put in command of developing a paratrooper force to be known as the Fallschirmjäger

9.
Reconnaissance
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In military operations, reconnaissance is the exploration outside an area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about natural features and enemy presence. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops, ships or submarines, manned/unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, satellites, espionage normally is not reconnaissance, because reconnaissance is a militarys special forces operating ahead of its main forces, spies are non-combatants operating behind enemy lines. Often called recce or recon, the verb is reconnaître. Traditionally, reconnaissance was a role that was adopted by the cavalry, speed was key in these maneuvers, thus infantry was ill suited to the task. From horses to vehicles, for warriors throughout history, commanders procured their ability to have speed and mobility, to mount and dismount, skirmishing is a traditional skill of reconnaissance, as well as harassment of the enemy. Reconnaissance conducted by ground forces includes special reconnaissance, armored reconnaissance, amphibious reconnaissance, aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance carried out by aircraft. The purpose is to weather conditions, map terrain, and may include military purposes such as observing tangible structures, particular areas. Naval forces use aerial and satellite reconnaissance to observe enemy forces, navies also undertake hydrographic surveys and intelligence gathering. Reconnaissance satellites provide military commanders with photographs of enemy forces and other intelligence, military forces also use geographical and meteorological information from Earth observation satellites. A tracker needs to pay attention to both the environment and the psychology of his enemy. Knowledge of human psychology, sociology, and cultural backgrounds is necessary to know the actions of the enemy and this is almost as necessary as to know the physical character of the country, its climate and products. Certain people will do certain things almost without fail, certain other things, perfectly feasible, they will not do. There is no danger of knowing too much of the habits of an enemy. One should neither underestimate the enemy nor credit him with superhuman powers, fear and courage are latent in every human being, though roused into activity by very diverse means. Types of reconnaissance, Terrain-oriented reconnaissance is a survey of the terrain, force-oriented reconnaissance focuses on the enemy forces and may include target acquisition. Civil-oriented reconnaissance focuses on the dimension of the battlespace. The techniques and objectives are not mutually exclusive, it is up to the commander whether they are carried out separately or by the same unit, some military elements tasked with reconnaissance are armed only for self-defense, and rely on stealth to gather information. Others are well-enough armed to also deny information to the enemy by destroying their reconnaissance elements, reconnaissance-in-force is a type of military operation or military tactics used specifically to probe an enemys disposition

10.
173rd Airborne Brigade
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The 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team is an airborne infantry brigade combat team of the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy. It is the United States European Commands conventional airborne strategic response force for Europe, activated in 1915, as the 173d Infantry Brigade, the unit saw service in World War I, but is best known for its actions during the Vietnam War. The brigade was the first major United States Army ground formation deployed in Vietnam, serving there from 1965 to 1971 and losing almost 1,800 soldiers. Noted for its roles in Operation Hump and Operation Junction City, the 173d is best known for the Battle of Dak To, Brigade members received over 7,700 decorations, including more than 6,000 Purple Hearts. The remaining units of the 173d were inactivated, since its reactivation in 2000, the brigade served five tours in the Middle East in support of the War on Terror. The brigade returned recently from a deployment stretching from late 2013 to late 2014, the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team serves as the conventional airborne strategic response force for Europe. It is a unit of the U. S. Armys V Corps and after June 2013. The 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team currently consists of 3,300 soldiers in seven subordinate battalions, the units two active paratrooper infantry battalions are the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 503rd Infantry Regiment, an association that can be traced back to the units Vietnam service. It has one National Guard paratrooper infantry battalion, the 1st Battalion, the 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment is the brigades light reconnaissance battalion, and the 4th Battalion, 319th Field Artillery Regiment its field artillery battalion. Providing combat support to the brigade is the 54th Brigade Engineer Battalion, the 173rd Support Battalion provides logistics and combat health support to the brigade. All of these including the 4–319th FAR are airborne qualified. In August 2016 the 1st Battalion 143d Infantry Regiment became part of the brigade under the Armys Associated United Pilot Program. Four months later, the returned to the United States. It was reorganized in December 1921 at Mobile, Alabama, redesignated on 23 March 1925 as the HHC 173rd Brigade, during World War II, brigades were eliminated from divisions. Consequently, the HHC 173rd Infantry Brigade was designated as the 87th Reconnaissance Troop in February 1942, the troop entered combat in 1944 and fought in three European campaigns, central Europe, the Rhineland and Ardennes-Alsace operations. After the war, the troop reverted to reserve status and was posted at Birmingham, on 1 December 1951, the troop was inactivated and released from its assignment to the 87th Infantry Division. From 1961 to 1963, the Army began reorganizing its force so that division would have a similar structure. This move was called the Reorganization Objective Army Division plan, the plan eliminated regiments but reintroduced brigades to the Armys structure, allowing three brigades to a division

11.
1st Cavalry Division (United States)
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The 1st Cavalry Division is a combined arms division and is one of the most decorated combat divisions of the United States Army, as well as the other four branches of the U. S. military. It is based at Fort Hood, Texas, as of 2013, the 1st Cavalry Division is subordinate to III Corps and is commanded by Major General John C. Thomson III. The history of the 1st Cavalry Division began in 1921 after the established a permanent cavalry division table of organization. Since 1st Cavalry Division was to assemble from existing units, it was able to go active in September 1921, even though the subordinate units did not arrive completely until as late as 1922. 1st Cavalry Division was assigned to the VIII Corps Area, with its headquarters and 2d Brigade located at Fort Bliss, Texas. The 1st Cavalry Division’s assembled at Douglas, Arizona, the 1st, 7th, and 8th Cavalry Regiments had previously been assigned to the wartime 15th Cavalry Division until they were returned to the VIII Corps Area troop list on 12 May 1918. 1st Cavalry Regiment remained assigned until it was transferred to 1st Cavalry Division on 20 August 1921 and this controversy continued until 18 December 1922, when the 5th Cavalry Regiment, then on the VIII Corps Area Troop List, swapped places with the 10th Cavalry Regiment. In 1923 the 1st Cavalry Division held division maneuvers for the first time, however, financial constraints made that impossible. Only in 1927, through the generosity of a few ranchers who provided land, was the division able to conduct such exercises again. In 1928 Major General Herbert B, crosby, Chief of Cavalry, faced with personnel cuts, reorganized the cavalry regiments, which in turn reduced the size of the 1st Cavalry Division. Crosbys goal was to decrease overhead while maintaining or increasing firepower in the regiment, the cavalry brigades machine gun squadrons were inactivated, while the responsibility for training and employing machine guns fell to the regimental commanders, as in the infantry. The new structure increased the size of the troop, expanded the medical unit to a squadron. A divisional aviation section, an armored car squadron, and tank company were added, the artillery battalion was expanded to a regiment. With the arrival of the 1930s, serious work started on the testing and refining of new equipment, to facilitate this, 1st Cavalry Division traded 1st Cavalry Regiment for 12th Cavalry Regiment on 3 January 1933. Like the 1937 infantry division test, the maneuvers concentrated on the cavalry regiments around which all other units were to be organized. The latter configuration allowed the division to deploy easily in two columns, which was accepted standard cavalry tactics, one headquarters would assume responsibility for the administration and disciplinary control for these forces. The special troops remained as structured in 1928, and no observation squadron or chemical detachment found a place in the division, with the paper changes in the cavalry divisions and other minor adjustments, the strength of a wartime divisional rose to 10,680. In order to prepare for war service, 1st Cavalry Division participated in the maneuvers, Toyahvale

12.
North Africa
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North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of Africa. The United Nationss definition of Northern Africa is, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, the countries of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya are often collectively referred to as the Maghreb, which is the Arabic word for sunset. Egypt lies to the northeast and encompasses part of West Asia, while Sudan is situated on the edge of the Sahel, Egypt is a transcontinental country because of the Sinai Peninsula, which geographically lies in Western Asia. North Africa also includes a number of Spanish possessions, the Canary Islands and Madeira in the North Atlantic Ocean northwest of the African mainland are included in considerations of the region. From 3500 BC, following the abrupt desertification of the Sahara due to changes in the Earths orbit. The Islamic influence in the area is significant, and North Africa is a major part of the Muslim world. Some researchers have postulated that North Africa rather than East Africa served as the point for the modern humans who first trekked out of the continent in the Out of Africa migration. The Atlas Mountains extend across much of Morocco, northern Algeria and Tunisia, are part of the mountain system that also runs through much of Southern Europe. They recede to the south and east, becoming a steppe landscape before meeting the Sahara desert, the sediments of the Sahara overlie an ancient plateau of crystalline rock, some of which is more than four billion years old. Sheltered valleys in the Atlas Mountains, the Nile Valley and Delta, a wide variety of valuable crops including cereals, rice and cotton, and woods such as cedar and cork, are grown. Typical Mediterranean crops, such as olives, figs, dates and citrus fruits, the Nile Valley is particularly fertile, and most of the population in Egypt and Sudan live close to the river. Elsewhere, irrigation is essential to improve yields on the desert margins. The inhabitants of Saharan Africa are generally divided in a manner corresponding to the principal geographic regions of North Africa, the Maghreb, the Nile valley. The edge of the Sahel, to the south of Egypt has mainly been inhabited by Nubians, Ancient Egyptians record extensive contact in their Western desert with people that appear to have been Berber or proto-Berber, as well as Nubians from the south. They have contributed to the Arabized Berber populations, the official language or one of the official languages in all of the countries in North Africa is Arabic. The people of the Maghreb and the Sahara regions speak Berber languages and several varieties of Arabic, the Arabic and Berber languages are distantly related, both being members of the Afroasiatic language family. The Tuareg Berber languages are more conservative than those of the coastal cities. Over the years, Berbers have been influenced by contact with cultures, Greeks, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Romans, Vandals, Arabs, Europeans

13.
Sicily
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Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous Region of Italy, along with surrounding minor islands, Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, the island has a typical Mediterranean climate. The earliest archaeological evidence of activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. It became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region after the Italian constitutional referendum of 1946. Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially regard to the arts, music, literature, cuisine. It is also home to important archaeological and ancient sites, such as the Necropolis of Pantalica, the Valley of the Temples, Sicily has a roughly triangular shape, earning it the name Trinacria. To the east, it is separated from the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, about 3 km wide in the north, and about 16 km wide in the southern part. The northern and southern coasts are each about 280 km long measured as a line, while the eastern coast measures around 180 km. The total area of the island is 25,711 km2, the terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible. Along the northern coast, the ranges of Madonie,2,000 m, Nebrodi,1,800 m. The cone of Mount Etna dominates the eastern coast, in the southeast lie the lower Hyblaean Mountains,1,000 m. The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur-producing area throughout the 19th century, Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes. Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and still casts black ash over the island with its ever-present eruptions and it currently stands 3,329 metres high, though this varies with summit eruptions, the mountain is 21 m lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps, Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus, Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily. The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex, the three volcanoes of Vulcano, Vulcanello and Lipari are also currently active, although the latter is usually dormant

14.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world

15.
USAG Schweinfurt
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United States Army Garrison Schweinfurt was a United States Army military community located in and around Schweinfurt, Germany from 1945 to 2014. The garrison comprised two installations, two housing areas, and two training areas in Pfändhausen, to the north of Schweinfurt as well as Sulzheim,15 minutes to the south of Schweinfurt. Cold War-era installations in Bad Kissingen, Bad Neustadt, Hammelburg, the installations that would go on to comprise Ledward and Conn Barracks of USAG Schweinfurt began construction in 1935. Troops from the 42nd Infantry Division, Seventh U. S. Army liberated the constituent installations and the city of Schweinfurt on April 11,1945. S. On October 19,1946, the Panzerkaserne was redesignated Ledward Barracks, in honor of Colonel William J. Ledward, Commander of the 27th Artillery Battalion, on December 22,1947, Schweinfurt Air Base was redesignated Conn Barracks, in honor of 2nd Lieutenant Orville B. Conn, Jr. of the 6th Cavalry Group, killed in action in France in 1944, the installation was returned to the German government on September 19,2014 due to an ongoing effort to concentrate the U. S. militarys footprint in Germany to fewer communities

16.
Schweinfurt
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Schweinfurt is a city in the Lower Franconia region of Bavaria in Germany on the right bank of the navigable Main River, which is spanned by several bridges here,27 km northeast of Würzburg. The city was first documented in the year 790, although as early as 740 a settlement called Villa Suinfurde was mentioned, in the 10th century Schweinfurt was the seat of a margraviate. After the defeat of count Henry of Schweinfurt in 1002/1003, in the feud against King Henry II of Germany, in the first half of the 13th century Schweinfurt expanded to become a proper city with city wall, towers and city gates. At that time the Nikolaus hospital was founded, a mint was established, around 1250 Schweinfurt was totally destroyed during a feud between the Count of Henneberg and the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg. In the following years it was reconstructed, a document from 1282 signed by Rudolf I of Habsburg states that Schweinfurt was a free city within the Holy Roman Empire. At least since then the coat of arms of Schweinfurt has been a white eagle. In 1309 the city was given to the Count of Henneberg, some years later there was the first uprising of Schweinfurts citizens against the town council, followed by a second in 1513–1514. This time the issuing of a constitution was allowed, the city joined Martin Luthers Reformation in 1542. Schweinfurt was again destroyed in the course of the Second Margrave War, the years up to 1615 were spent by the citizens for its reconstruction. Schweinfurt joined the Protestant Union in 1609, in the Thirty Years War it was occupied by Gustavus Adolphus, who erected fortifications, the remains of which are still extant. The latest addition to the Lutheran churches in Schweinfurt arrived during the last years of the Soviet Union, in 1777, Johann Martin Schmidt began to produce white lead. Schweinfurt suffered from heavy casualties during the Napoleonic Wars of 1796–1801, Schweinfurt remained a free imperial city until 1802, when it passed to the Electorate of Bavaria. Assigned to the duke of Würzburg in 1810, it was granted to the Kingdom of Bavaria four years later. The first railway junction was opened in 1852, in the following years Schweinfurt became a world leading centre for the production of ball bearings. This was to lead to consequences for the city during World War II. Schweinfurt was bombed 22 times during Operation Pointblank by a total of 2285 aircraft, the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission caused an immediate 34% loss of production and all plants but the largest were devastated by fire. Efforts to disperse the surviving machinery began immediately and the Luftwaffe deployed large numbers of interceptors along the corridor to Schweinfurt, bombing also included the Second Raid on Schweinfurt on 14 October 1943 and Big Week in February 1944. The decentralized industry was able to output to 85% of its pre-bombing level

17.
International Security Assistance Force
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From 2006 to 2011, ISAF had become increasingly involved in more intensive combat operations in southern and eastern Afghanistan. Troop contributors included the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, other NATO member states, the intensity of the combat faced by contributing nations varied greatly, with the United States sustaining the most casualties overall. In early 2010, there were at least 700 military bases inside Afghanistan, about 400 of these were used by American‑led NATO forces and 300 by ANSF. ISAF ceased combat operations and was disbanded in December 2014, with some troops remaining behind in a role as part of ISAFs successor organization. For almost two years, the ISAF mandate did not go beyond the boundaries of Kabul, according to General Norbert Van Heyst, such a deployment would require at least ten thousand additional soldiers. The responsibility for security throughout the whole of Afghanistan was to be given to the newly reconstituted Afghan National Army, however, on October 13,2003, the Security Council voted unanimously to expand the ISAF mission beyond Kabul with Resolution 1510. Shortly thereafter, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien said that Canadian soldiers would not deploy outside Kabul, on October 24,2003, the German Bundestag voted to send German troops to the region of Kunduz. Approximately 230 additional soldiers were deployed to that region, marking the first time that ISAF soldiers operated outside of Kabul. On July 31,2006, the NATO‑led International Security Assistance Force assumed command of the south of the country, ISAF Stage 3, and by October 5, also of the east of Afghanistan, ISAF Stage 4. ISAF was mandated by UN Security Council Resolutions 1386,1413,1444,1510,1563,1623,1659,1707,1776, the last of these extended the mandate of ISAF to March 23,2011. The mandates given by the different governments to their forces varied from country to country and this meant that ISAF suffered from a lack of united aims. The initial ISAF headquarters was based on 3rd UK Mechanised Division and this force arrived in December,2001. Until ISAF expanded beyond Kabul, the force consisted of a roughly division-level headquarters and one covering the capital. The brigade was composed of three groups, and was in charge of the tactical command of deployed troops. ISAF headquarters served as the control center of the mission. Eighteen countries were contributors to the force in February,2002, Turkey assumed command of ISAF in June,2002. During this period, the number of Turkish troops increased from about 100 to 1,300, in November,2002, ISAF consisted of 4,650 troops from over 20 countries. Around 1,200 German troops served in the force alongside 250 Dutch soldiers operating as part of a German-led battalion, Turkey relinquished command in February,2003, and assumed command for a second time in February,2005

18.
Afghanistan
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Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 32 million, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north and its territory covers 652,000 km2, making it the 41st largest country in the world. The land also served as the source from which the Kushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Khiljis, Mughals, Hotaks, Durranis, the political history of the modern state of Afghanistan began with the Hotak and Durrani dynasties in the 18th century. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a state in the Great Game between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, King Amanullah unsuccessfully attempted to modernize the country and it remained peaceful during Zahir Shahs forty years of monarchy. A series of coups in the 1970s was followed by a series of wars that devastated much of Afghanistan. The name Afghānistān is believed to be as old as the ethnonym Afghan, the root name Afghan was used historically in reference to a member of the ethnic Pashtuns, and the suffix -stan means place of in Persian. Therefore, Afghanistan translates to land of the Afghans or, more specifically in a historical sense, however, the modern Constitution of Afghanistan states that he word Afghan shall apply to every citizen of Afghanistan. An important site of historical activities, many believe that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites. The country sits at a unique nexus point where numerous civilizations have interacted and it has been home to various peoples through the ages, among them the ancient Iranian peoples who established the dominant role of Indo-Iranian languages in the region. At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, and the Islamic Empire. Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the area of Afghanistan has been closely connected by culture and trade with its neighbors to the east, west. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, urban civilization is believed to have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization. More recent findings established that the Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up towards modern-day Afghanistan, making the ancient civilisation today part of Pakistan, Afghanistan, in more detail, it extended from what today is northwest Pakistan to northwest India and northeast Afghanistan. An Indus Valley site has found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in northern Afghanistan. There are several smaller IVC colonies to be found in Afghanistan as well, after 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians. These tribes later migrated further into South Asia, Western Asia, the region at the time was referred to as Ariana

19.
Nuristan
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Nuristan, also spelled Nurestan or Nooristan, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. It is divided into seven districts and has a population of about 140,900, Parun serves as the provincial capital. It was formerly known as Kafiristan until the inhabitants were converted from a form of ancient Hinduism, to Islam in 1895, the primary occupations are agriculture, animal husbandry, and day labor. Located on the slopes of the Hindu Kush mountains in the northeastern part of the country, Nuristan spans the basins of the Alingar, Pech, Landai Sin. Nuristan is bordered on the south by Laghman and Kunar provinces, on the north by Badakhshan province, on the west by Panjshir province, the surrounding area fell to Alexander the Great in 330 B. C. It later fell to Chandragupta Maurya, the Mauryas introduced Buddhism to the region, and were attempting to expand their empire to Central Asia until they faced local Greco-Bactrian forces. Seleucus is said to have reached a treaty with Chandragupta by giving control of the territory south of the Hindu Kush to the Mauryas upon intermarriage and 500 elephants. As soon as the forces, therefore, of all the confederates were united, a battle was fought, in which Antigonus was slain, having consolidated power in the northwest, Chandragupta pushed east towards the Nanda Empire. Afghanistans significant ancient tangible and intangible Buddhist heritage is recorded through wide-ranging archeological finds, including religious, Buddhist doctrines are reported to have reached as far as Balkh even during the life of the Buddha, as recorded by Xuanzang. In this context a legend recorded by Xuanzang refers to the first two lay disciples of Buddha, Trapusa and Bhallika responsible for introducing Buddhism in that country. Originally these two were merchants of the kingdom of Balhika, as the name Bhalluka or Bhallika probably suggests the association of one with that country and they had gone to India for trade and had happened to be at Bodhgaya when the Buddha had just attained enlightenment. The region was known as Kafiristan because of its inhabitants, the Nuristani. It was conquered by Emir Abdur Rahman Khan in the late 19th century, the Kafirs are thought to be the original inhabitants of the plains country of Afghanistan in what is now Nuristan. They were driven back into the areas by the arrival of Islam in the country about 700AD. The region was renamed Nuristan, meaning Land of the enlightened, Nuristan was once thought to have been a region through which Alexander the Great passed with a detachment of his army, thus the folk legend that the Nuristani people are descendants of Alexander. Abdul Wakil Khan Nuristani is one of the most prominent figures in Nuristans history and he fought against the British-led Punjabi army and drove them out of the eastern provinces of Afghanistan. He is buried on the plateau where King Amanullah Khan is buried. Since the creation of Pakistan in 1947, Afghan politicians have been focusing on re-annexing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and this has led to militancy on both sides of the Durand Line

20.
Kunar Province
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Kunar is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. It has a population of about 428,800 and it is one of the four N2KL provinces. Kunar is the center of the N2KL region, Kunar is birthplace of Sayyed Jamaluddin Afghani a very influential Muslim scholar and philosopher. Kunar province is located in the northeast of Afghanistan and it borders with Nangarhar Province to the south, Nuristan Province to the north, Laghman Province to the west and has a border with Pakistan in the east. The province covers an area of 4339 km2, nearly nine tenths of the province is mountainous or semi mountainous terrain while one eighth of the area is made up of relatively flat land. The primary geographic features of the province are the lower Hindu Kush mountains which are cut by the Kunar River to form the Kunar Valley. The river flows south and southwest from its source in the Pamir area and is part of the Indus River watershed via the Kabul River which it meets at Jalalabad. The Kunar is a primary draining conduit for the Hindu Kush basin and several tributaries, including the Pech, form distinct, the mountains, narrow valleys with steep walls, and rivers present formidable natural obstacles and have impacted all movement through the province throughout history. Even in the early 21st century, movement on foot, with pack animals, while the Diadochi were warring amongst themselves, the Maurya Empire was developing in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. During the 120 years of the Mauryans in southern Afghanistan, Buddhism was introduced and eventually become a major religion alongside Zoroastrianism, the ancient Grand Trunk Road was built linking what is now Kabul to various cities in the Punjab and the Gangetic Plain. Commerce, art, and architecture developed during this period and it reached its high point under Emperor Ashoka whose edicts, roads, and rest stops were found throughout the subcontinent. Inscriptions made by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, a fragment of Edict 13 in Greek, as well as a full Edict and it is said to be written in excellent Classical Greek, using sophisticated philosophical terms. And the king abstains from living beings, and other men, the last ruler in the region was probably Subhagasena, who, in all probability, belonged to the Ashvaka background. The region has been part of empires in the past. Many famous historical figures are believed to have visited the area, including Alexander the Great, Mahmud Ghaznavi, Xuanzang, Ibn Battuta, archaeologists have dated to AD 800-1000 a fortification system overlooking a Muslim cemetery at Chaga Serai. Babur wrote about Kunar in Baburnama and he also describes agriproducts citron, oranges, coriander, orchards, strong yellow wines, and a burial custom wherein a woman whose corpse moved was considered to have done good things in life. He mentions Chaghan-Sarai as a town, and describes the towns folk as Muslims who mixed with the Kafirs of nearby Kafiristan. He also claims to have captured the town, even as the Pech river Kafirs tried to help the Chaghan Sarai residents repel his attack

21.
Paktika
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Paktika is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southeastern part of the country. It has a population of about 413,800, which is a tribal society. The town of Sharana serves as the capital while the largest town is Urgun. Paktika sits adjacent to Durand Line border between Pakistan and Afghanistan and it is bordered by the Khost and Paktia provinces to the north. Both the North Waziristan, Bannu and the South Waziristan Agencies are to the east, the western border is shared with the provinces of Ghazni and Zabul, while Balochistan, Pakistan is on its southern flank. Paktika, like other areas of Afghanistan, has been severely deforested. This has been a cause of devastating floods in recent years, the province is mainly hilly and interspersed with seasonal river valleys. In the north, the terrain gains elevation and becomes more rugged, the terrain in Omna becomes more hilly further east in proximity to Pakistan. The sparsely populated districts are also hilly, with descending elevation towards the south. Paktika is the southernmost part of a region known as Greater Paktia. The tribes that reside in area were mentioned by the Greek historian Herodotus. Paktika was the site of battles during the Soviet occupation of the country. The Siege of Urgun took place between 1983 and 1984, as one of the most remote provinces in Afghanistan and an area that saw much devastation in previous years, Paktika suffers from a severe lack of critical infrastructure. Reconstruction in the province after the fall of the Taliban has been compared to that in nearby provinces such as Khost. This is primarily due to the remoteness of the region and repeated attacks on aid workers, the first full contingent of eight Civil Affairs Soldiers from the U. S. Army Reserves 450th Civil Affairs Battalion, based in Riverdale Park, Maryland, arrived in September 2004. In an article from Time, the U. S. base was described as, The U. S. firebase looks like a Wild West cavalry fort, ringed with coils of razor wire. A U. S. flag ripples above the 3-ft. -thick mud walls, when theres trouble, it usually comes from that direction. The Shkin firebase is composed of special operations forces and they target, and are constant targets themselves for the Al-Qaida and Taliban fighters who launch frequent strikes from nearby Pakistan

22.
Logar Province
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Logar is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern section of the country. It is divided into seven districts and contains hundreds of villages, Puli Alam is the capital of the province. As of 2013, Logar has a population of about 373,100 and it is a multi-ethnic tribal society, with about 60% belonging to the Pashtun group and the rest being Tajiks and Hazaras. The word of Logar is a combination of two Pashto words, Loy and Ghar, the Logar River enters the province through the west and leaves to the north. The Logar province territory fell to the Maurya Empire, which was led by Chandragupta Maurya, the Mauryas introduced Buddhism to the region, and were planning to capture more territory of Central Asia until they faced local Greco-Bactrian forces. Seleucus is said to have reached a treaty with Chandragupta by giving control of the territory south of the Hindu Kush to the Mauryas upon intermarriage and 500 elephants. As soon as the forces, therefore, of all the confederates were united, a battle was fought, in which Antigonus was slain, having consolidated power in the northwest, Chandragupta pushed east towards the Nanda Empire. Afghanistans significant ancient tangible and intangible Buddhist heritage is recorded through wide-ranging archaeological finds, including religious, Buddhist doctrines are reported to have reached as far as Balkh even during the life of the Buddha, as recorded by Husang Tsang. In this context a legend recorded by Husang Tsang refers to the first two lay disciples of Buddha, Trapusa and Bhallika responsible for introducing Buddhism in that country. Originally these two were merchants of the kingdom of Balhika, as the name Bhalluka or Bhallika probably suggests the association of one with that country and they had gone to India for trade and had happened to be at Bodhgaya when the Buddha had just attained enlightenment. It was one of the supply routes of mujahideen rebels coming from Pakistan. Like other parts of the country, Logar has also seen heavy fighting during the 1980s, swedish journalist Borge Almqvist, who visited the province in 1982, wrote that, Everywhere in the Logar province the most common sight except for ruins are graves. Soviet operations included using bombing, the use of liquids to burn alive people in hiding, poisoning of drinking water. One writer who witnessed the events argue that the Soviet actions in Logar amounted to genocide, some of the notable rebel fighters were Fazlullah Mujaddidi, Sayed Rasool Hashimi, Malim Tor, Mohammad Wali Nasiri, Taher Shirzad, Asadullah Fallah. By 1995 the province had fallen to the Taliban government, the Provincial Reconstruction Team Logar was established in March 2008. It provided a number of benefits to the locals, including security, development, in the meantime, Taliban insurgents are often causing major disturbances in the area. This includes major attacks on key projects, suicide bombings in civilian area, Logar can be generally described as a relatively flat river valley in the north and central regions, surrounded by rugged mountains to the east, south, and southwest. The Kabul-Gardez Highway runs north-south through Logar Province, from the Mohammed Agha District south to the Paktiya Province border, although the government of Afghanistan recognizes the Azra district as being in Logar, many widely accepted maps include it in the Paktia province to the south

23.
NATO
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party, three NATO members are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and are officially nuclear-weapon states. NATOs headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons. NATO is an Alliance that consists of 28 independent member countries across North America and Europe, an additional 22 countries participate in NATOs Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the global total, Members defence spending is supposed to amount to 2% of GDP. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, politically, the organization sought better relations with former Warsaw Pact countries, several of which joined the alliance in 1999 and 2004. N. The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, the treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Unions Defence Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the United States was thought necessary both to counter the power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist militarism. He got a hearing, especially considering American anxiety over Italy. In 1948 European leaders met with U. S. defense, military and diplomatic officials at the Pentagon, marshalls orders, exploring a framework for a new and unprecedented association. Talks for a new military alliance resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty and it included the five Treaty of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the goal was to keep the Russians out, the Americans in. Popular support for the Treaty was not unanimous, and some Icelanders participated in a pro-neutrality, the creation of NATO can be seen as the primary institutional consequence of a school of thought called Atlanticism which stressed the importance of trans-Atlantic cooperation. The members agreed that an attack against any one of them in Europe or North America would be considered an attack against them all. The treaty does not require members to respond with military action against an aggressor, although obliged to respond, they maintain the freedom to choose the method by which they do so. This differs from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels, which states that the response will be military in nature. It is nonetheless assumed that NATO members will aid the attacked member militarily, the treaty was later clarified to include both the members territory and their vessels, forces or aircraft above the Tropic of Cancer, including some Overseas departments of France. The creation of NATO brought about some standardization of allied military terminology, procedures, and technology, the roughly 1300 Standardization Agreements codified many of the common practices that NATO has achieved

24.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church

25.
Czech Republic
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The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a nation state in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres with mostly temperate continental climate and it is a unitary parliamentary republic, has 10.5 million inhabitants and the capital and largest city is Prague, with over 1.2 million residents. The Czech Republic includes the territories of Bohemia, Moravia. The Czech state was formed in the late 9th century as the Duchy of Bohemia under the Great Moravian Empire, after the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power transferred from Moravia to Bohemia under the Přemyslid dynasty. In 1002, the duchy was formally recognized as part of the Holy Roman Empire, becoming the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198 and reaching its greatest territorial extent in the 14th century. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the whole Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy alongside the Archduchy of Austria, the Protestant Bohemian Revolt against the Catholic Habsburgs led to the Thirty Years War. After the Battle of the White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule, reimposed Roman Catholicism, the Czech part of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany in World War II, and was liberated in 1945 by the armies of the Soviet Union and the United States. The Czech country lost the majority of its German-speaking inhabitants after they were expelled following the war, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the 1946 elections. Following the 1948 coup détat, Czechoslovakia became a one-party communist state under Soviet influence, in 1968, increasing dissatisfaction with the regime culminated in a reform movement known as the Prague Spring, which ended in a Soviet-led invasion. Czechoslovakia remained occupied until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed, on 6 March 1990, the Czech Socialistic Republic was renamed to the Czech Republic. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004, it is a member of the United Nations, the OECD, the OSCE, and it is a developed country with an advanced, high income economy and high living standards. The UNDP ranks the country 14th in inequality-adjusted human development, the Czech Republic also ranks as the 6th most peaceful country, while achieving strong performance in democratic governance. It has the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union, the traditional English name Bohemia derives from Latin Boiohaemum, which means home of the Boii. The current name comes from the endonym Čech, spelled Cžech until the reform in 1842. The name comes from the Slavic tribe and, according to legend, their leader Čech, the etymology of the word Čech can be traced back to the Proto-Slavic root *čel-, meaning member of the people, kinsman, thus making it cognate to the Czech word člověk. The country has traditionally divided into three lands, namely Bohemia in the west, Moravia in the southeast, and Czech Silesia in the northeast. Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, the Czech part of the former nation found itself without a common single-word geographical name in English, the name Czechia /ˈtʃɛkiə/ was recommended by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs

26.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks

27.
Lithuania
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Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in Northern Europe. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.9 million people as of 2015, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. The official language, Lithuanian, along with Latvian, is one of two living languages in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. For centuries, the shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s, the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, the King of Lithuania, and the first unified Lithuanian state, with the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772–95, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuanias territory. As World War I neared its end, Lithuanias Act of Independence was signed on 16 February 1918, in the midst of the Second World War, Lithuania was first occupied by the Soviet Union and then by Nazi Germany. As World War II neared its end and the Germans retreated, Lithuania is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, a full member of the Eurozone, Schengen Agreement and NATO. It is also a member of the Nordic Investment Bank, the United Nations Human Development Index lists Lithuania as a very high human development country. Lithuania has been among the fastest growing economies in the European Union and is ranked 21st in the world in the Ease of Doing Business Index, the first people settled in the territory of Lithuania after the last glacial period in the 10th millennium BC. Over a millennium, the Indo-Europeans, who arrived in the 3rd – 2nd millennium BC, mixed with the local population, the first written mention of Lithuania is found in a medieval German manuscript, the Annals of Quedlinburg, in an entry dated 9 March 1009. Initially inhabited by fragmented Baltic tribes, in the 1230s the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, after his assassination in 1263, pagan Lithuania was a target of the Christian crusades of the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order. Despite the devastating century-long struggle with the Orders, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania expanded rapidly, by the end of the 14th century, Lithuania was one of the largest countries in Europe and included present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia. The geopolitical situation between the west and the east determined the multicultural and multi-confessional character of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the ruling elite practised religious tolerance and Chancery Slavonic language was used as an auxiliary language to the Latin for official documents. In 1385, the Grand Duke Jogaila accepted Polands offer to become its king, Jogaila embarked on gradual Christianization of Lithuania and established a personal union between Poland and Lithuania. It implied that Lithuania, the fiercely independent land, was one of the last pagan areas of Europe to adopt Christianity, after two civil wars, Vytautas the Great became the Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1392. During his reign, Lithuania reached the peak of its expansion, centralization of the state began

28.
Latvia
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Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe, one of the three Baltic states. It is bordered by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, Latvia has 1,957,200 inhabitants and a territory of 64,589 km2. The country has a seasonal climate. Latvia is a parliamentary republic established in 1918. The capital city is Riga, the European Capital of Culture 2014, Latvia is a unitary state, divided into 119 administrative divisions, of which 110 are municipalities and 9 are cities. Latvians and Livs are the people of Latvia. Latvian and Lithuanian are the two surviving Baltic languages. Despite foreign rule from the 13th to 20th centuries, the Latvian nation maintained its identity throughout the generations via the language, Latvia and Estonia share a long common history. Until World War II, Latvia also had significant minorities of ethnic Germans, Latvia is historically predominantly Protestant Lutheran, except for the Latgale region in the southeast, which has historically been predominantly Roman Catholic. The Russian population has brought a significant portion of Eastern Orthodox Christians. The Republic of Latvia was founded on 18 November 1918, however, its de facto independence was interrupted at the outset of World War II. The peaceful Singing Revolution, starting in 1987, called for Baltic emancipation of Soviet rule and it ended with the Declaration on the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia on 4 May 1990, and restoring de facto independence on 21 August 1991. Latvia is a democratic and developed country and member of the European Union, NATO, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, CBSS, the IMF, NB8, NIB, OECD, OSCE, and WTO. For 2014, Latvia was listed 46th on the Human Development Index and it used the Latvian lats as its currency until it was replaced by the euro on 1 January 2014. The name Latvija is derived from the name of the ancient Latgalians, one of four Indo-European Baltic tribes, henry of Latvia coined the Latinisations of the countrys name, Lettigallia and Lethia, both derived from the Latgalians. The terms inspired the variations on the name in Romance languages from Letonia. Around 3000 BC, the ancestors of the Latvian people settled on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. The Balts established trade routes to Rome and Byzantium, trading local amber for precious metals, by 900 AD, four distinct Baltic tribes inhabited Latvia, Curonians, Latgalians, Selonians, Semigallians, as well as the Livonians speaking a Finnic language

29.
Estonia
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Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia, across the Baltic Sea lies Sweden in the west and Finland in the north. The territory of Estonia consists of a mainland and 2,222 islands and islets in the Baltic Sea, covering 45,339 km2 of land and water, and is influenced by a humid continental climate. The territory of Estonia has been inhabited since at least 6500 BC, in 1988, during the Singing Revolution, the Estonian Supreme Soviet issued the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration in defiance of Soviet rule, and independence was restored on 20 August 1991. Estonia is a parliamentary republic divided into fifteen counties. Its capital and largest city is Tallinn, with a population of 1.3 million, it is one of the least-populous member states of the European Union, Eurozone, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, OECD and Schengen Area. Estonia is a country with an advanced, high-income economy that is among the fastest growing in the EU. Its Human Development Index ranks very highly, and it performs favourably in measurements of economic freedom, civil liberties, the 2015 PISA test places Estonian high school students 3rd in the world, behind Singapore and Japan. Citizens of Estonia are provided with health care, free education. Since independence the country has developed its IT sector, becoming one of the worlds most digitally advanced societies. In 2005 Estonia became the first nation to hold elections over the Internet, in the Estonian language, the oldest known endonym of the Estonians was maarahvas, meaning country people or people of the land. The land inhabited by Estonians was called Maavald meaning Country Parish or Land Parish, one hypothesis regarding the modern name of Estonia is that it originated from the Aesti, a people described by the Roman historian Tacitus in his Germania. The historic Aesti were allegedly Baltic people, whereas the modern Estonians are Finno-Ugric, the geographical areas between Aesti and Estonia do not match, with Aesti being further down south. Ancient Scandinavian sagas refer to a land called Eistland, as the country is called in Icelandic. Early Latin and other ancient versions of the name are Estia and Hestia, esthonia was a common alternative English spelling prior to 1921. Human settlement in Estonia became possible 13,000 to 11,000 years ago, the oldest known settlement in Estonia is the Pulli settlement, which was on the banks of the river Pärnu, near the town of Sindi, in south-western Estonia. According to radiocarbon dating it was settled around 11,000 years ago, the earliest human inhabitation during the Mesolithic period is connected to Kunda culture, which is named after the town of Kunda in northern Estonia. At that time the country was covered with forests, and people lived in communities near bodies of water

30.
Romania
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Romania is a sovereign state located in Southeastern Europe. It borders the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia and it has an area of 238,391 square kilometres and a temperate-continental climate. With over 19 million inhabitants, the country is the member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth-largest city in the EU, the River Danube, Europes second-longest river, rises in Germany and flows in a general southeast direction for 2,857 km, coursing through ten countries before emptying into Romanias Danube Delta. The Carpathian Mountains, which cross Romania from the north to the southwest are marked by one of their tallest peaks, Moldoveanu, modern Romania was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, at the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the sovereign Kingdom of Romania. Romania lost several territories, of which Northern Transylvania was regained after the war, following the war, Romania became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition towards democracy and it has been a member of NATO since 2004, and part of the European Union since 2007. A strong majority of the population identify themselves as Eastern Orthodox Christians and are speakers of Romanian. The cultural history of Romania is often referred to when dealing with artists, musicians, inventors. For similar reasons, Romania has been the subject of notable tourist attractions, Romania derives from the Latin romanus, meaning citizen of Rome. The first known use of the appellation was attested in the 16th century by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia, after the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the word rumân gradually fell out of use and the spelling stabilised to the form român. Tudor Vladimirescu, a leader of the early 19th century. The use of the name Romania to refer to the homeland of all Romanians—its modern-day meaning—was first documented in the early 19th century. The name has been officially in use since 11 December 1861, in English, the name of the country was formerly spelt Rumania or Roumania. Romania became the predominant spelling around 1975, Romania is also the official English-language spelling used by the Romanian government. The Neolithic-Age Cucuteni area in northeastern Romania was the region of the earliest European civilization. Evidence from this and other sites indicates that the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture extracted salt from salt-laden spring water through the process of briquetage

31.
United States Army branch insignia
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Army branch insignia is similar to the line officer and staff corps officer devices of the United States Navy as well as to the Navy enlisted rating badges. The Medical, Nurse, Dental, Veterinary, Medical Service, Medical Specialist, Chaplains, the first use of Army branch insignia was just prior to the American Civil War in 1858 for use on the black felt hat. General officers wore dark blue epaulets, by the start of the 20th century, Army personnel began wearing various branch insignia on the stand-up collars of the Army dress uniform. Branch insignia was worn by officers on the wool uniform shirt when worn as outerwear. Enlisted soldiers wore a version enclosed in a disk while officers wore a full sized version not enclosed. This has continued to the modern age, for Air Defense Artillery and Aviation, the number is mounted on the center of the face. For Infantry, Cavalry, Special Forces and Field Artillery, the number is placed immediately above, but not covering, for Armor, the number is placed immediately above the tank. Certain special assignment insignia is worn in place of branch insignia to denote the officers or NCOs particular responsibility, the enlisted versions of these are borne on a golden disk in the same manner as their customary branch device. Officers so assigned continue to wear their branch colors on the epaulets of the blue Army Service Uniform. Officers and NCOs serving a term in an Inspector General billet wear Inspector General insignia, officers assigned to general staff billets wear General Staff insignia. Officers assigned as aides-de-camp wear aide-de-camp insignia which denotes the rank of the officer or official whom they serve, the sergeant major assigned as the Sergeant Major of the Army wears unique insignia based upon that of an aide-de-camp to the Army Chief of Staff. If the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman is selected from the Army, likewise, they wore brown as a branch color no matter their basic specialty. In 2004, warrant officers adopted the insignia and colors of the corresponding to their specialty. Aside from Army custom, the Army Chief of Staff, former Chiefs of Staff, all other general officers may wear branch insignia at their option. If they choose this option, general officers wear the branch insignia for the position to which they are appointed. Army custom is that general officers wear no insignia, as they deal with echelons far above the basic branch level. Exceptions, however exist, as with the commandants of the various branches retain the respective insignia, military Academy wears the Professor, USMA insignia. The 21st century Army displays branch insignia on the blue Army Service Uniform coats, Branch insignia was also similarly worn on rarely seen Army White uniform coat prior to that uniform being declared obsolete and unauthorized in 2006

32.
Cavalry (United States)
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The United States Cavalry, or U. S. Cavalry, was the designation of the mounted force of the United States Army from the late 18th to the early 20th century. Cavalry is also used in the name of the 1st Cavalry Division for heraldic/lineage/historical purposes, originally designated as United States Dragoons, the forces were patterned after cavalry units employed during the Revolutionary War. Immediately preceding World War II, the U. S. Cavalry began transitioning to a mechanized, mounted force, during World War II, the Armys cavalry units operated as horse-mounted, mechanized, or dismounted forces. The last horse-mounted cavalry charge by a U. S. Cavalry unit took place on the Bataan Peninsula, the 26th Cavalry Regiment of the Philippine Scouts executed the charge against Japanese forces near the village of Morong on 16 January 1942. The U. S. Cavalry branch was absorbed into the Armor branch as part of the Army Reorganization Act of 1950, today, cavalry designations and traditions continue with regiments of both armor and aviation units that perform the cavalry mission. The 1st Cavalry Division is the only division in the United States Army with a cavalry designation. The division maintains a detachment of horse-mounted cavalry for ceremonial purposes, Washington saw the intimidating effect of the small force of British 17th Light Dragoons, which panicked his militia infantry at White Plains. In late 1776, Congress authorized Washington to establish a force of 3,000 men. On 12 December 1776, Congress converted Elisha Sheldons militia regiment into the Regiment of Light Dragoons, in March 1777, Washington established the Corps of Continental Light Dragoons consisting of four regiments of 280 men, each organised in six troops. Pulaskis efforts led to friction with the American officers, resulting in his resignation, pulaskis Legion consisted of dragoons, riflemen, grenadiers, and infantry. Battle engagements in South Carolina largely seriously attrited the 1st and 3rd Regiments in the spring of 1780, following the capture of Charleston, South Carolina on 12 May 1780, the remnants tried to regroup and reconstitute in Virginia and North Carolina. In August,1780, Armands Legion was with General Gates at the disastrous Battle of Camden, the most significant engagement of the war involving Continental light dragoons was the Battle of Cowpens in January 1781. The British responded by organizing a force of dragoons and infantry under British Lt-Col Banastre Tarleton to stop the raids. Later, the 3rd Legionary Corps participated in Greenes maneuvers across North Carolina, in 1783, the Continental Army was discharged and the dragoons were released. The first cavalry unit formed by the Congress of the United States of America was a squadron of four troops commanded by Major Michael Rudolph on 5 March 1792, in 1799, Congress established a provision for mobilization of three cavalry regiments in the event of a war. Equipment for 3,000 men and horses was procured and stored, the Congressional act of 12 April 1808 authorized a standing regiment of light dragoons consisting of eight troops. As war loomed, Congress authorized another regiment of dragoons on 11 January 1812. These regiments were known afterwards as the First and Second United States Dragoons

33.
United States Army Institute of Heraldry
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The United States Army Institute of Heraldry, also known as The Institute of Heraldry, furnishes heraldic services to the U. S. Armed Forces and other U. S. government organizations, including the Executive Office of the President, limited research and information services concerning official symbolic items are also provided to the general public. The Institute of Heraldry is located at Fort Belvoir, an installation within the metropolitan area of Washington. The staff consists of thirty-two civilians, Heraldic and other military symbols have been used by the U. S. Armed Forces and government agencies since the beginning of the American Revolution. S, in 1924, formal staff responsibility for specific military designs was delegated to the Quartermaster General. As the needs for symbolism by the services and the national government expanded. The expansion of the Army during World War II, and the subsequent increased interest in symbolism and it was further expanded by Pub. L. 85–263, approved September 1957,71 Stat,89, which delineated the authority of the Secretary of the Army to furnish heraldic services to the military departments and other branches of the federal government. On 1960-08-10, Army General Order Number 29 placed the U. S. Army Institute of Heraldry under the control of the Quartermaster General. The Army Adjutant General’s office assumed responsibility of the institute in 1962, in 1987, another realignment subordinated the Institute to the U. S. In April 1994, the Institute of Heraldry moved from Cameron Station to Fort Belvoir, in October 2004, another realignment assigned responsibility for the Heraldic Program to Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army, part of the United States Army. Approve designs for distinctive unit insignia, Regimental Distinctive Insignia, and shoulder sleeve insignia, authorize heraldic items for U. S. Army Organizations. Authorize the use of Army insignia when incorporated into items for commercial sale, design and develop insignia seals, medals, badges, band regalia and flags. Establish Army policy for flag design and display, monitor the Heraldic Quality Control System in accordance with Army Regulation 672-8, to ensure heraldic items are manufactured according to government specifications or purchase descriptions. Prepare heraldic item specifications and provide engineering support to manufacturers, provide manufacturers with government-loaned tools and specifications for heraldic items. Blazon, Or a chevron Gules, on a chief Sable a label of the first, blazon, On a wreath Or and Gules, a griffin salient of the first. The griffin, a fabulous animal half eagle and half lion, is symbolic of wisdom, the role of the griffin as guardian of treasure is symbolic of the institutes singular responsibility to safeguard the heraldic art of the federal government. The eagle also alludes to the United States and the lion to Great Britain, dexter, The large white star edged with blue symbolizes all the States, which comprise the United States, and was suggested by the union of the United States Flag

34.
United States Secretary of the Army
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The Secretary of the Army is nominated by the President and confirmed by the U. S. Senate, the Secretary of the Army is a non-Cabinet position serving under the Secretary of Defense. Robert M. Speer took office as Acting Secretary on January 20,2017 and he will perform his duties until the U. S. Senate confirms a new Army Secretary, Karl M. Schneider will perform the duties of Undersecretary of the Army. Mr. Speer was formerly Assistant Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Army is in effect the chief executive officer of the Department of the Army, and the Chief of Staff of the Army works directly for the Secretary of the Army. The Secretary presents and justifies Army policies, plans, programs, and budgets to the Secretary of Defense, other executive branch officials, the Secretary also communicates Army policies, plans, programs, capabilities, and accomplishments to the public. As necessary, the Secretary convenes meetings with the leadership of the Army to debate issues, provide direction. The Secretary is a member of the Defense Acquisition Board, other offices may be established by law or by the Secretary of the Army. No more than 1,865 officers of the Army on the active-duty list may be assigned or detailed to permanent duty in the Office of the Secretary of the Army and on the Army Staff

35.
Chief of Staff of the United States Army
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The Chief of Staff of the Army is a statutory office held by a four-star general in the United States Army. As the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army, the CSA is the military advisor. The CSA is typically the officer on active-duty in the U. S. Army unless the Chairman and/or the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are Army officers. The Chief of Staff of the Army is a position based in the Pentagon. While the CSA does not have command authority over Army forces proper. The current Chief of Staff of the Army is General Mark A. Milley, the CSA also directs the Inspector General of the Army to perform inspections and investigations as required. In addition, the CSA presides over the Army Staff and represents army capabilities, requirements, policy, plans, under delegation of authority made by the Secretary of the Army, the CSA designates army personnel and army resources to the Commanders of the Combatant Commands. Like the other counterparts, the CSA has no operational command authority over army forces. The CSA is served by a number of Deputy Chiefs of Staff of the Army, such as G-1, Personnel. The CSA base pay is $21,147.30 per month plus Personal Money Allowance of $333.33, basic allowance for subsistence of $253.38, the Chief of Staff of the Army is nominated by the President and must be confirmed by the Senate. By statute, the CSA is appointed as a four-star general, the Chief of Staff of the Army has an official residence, Quarters 1 at Joint Base Myer–Henderson Hall, Virginia. The Chief of Staff holds an annual future study program called Unified Quest, prior to 1903, the senior military officer in the army was the Commanding General, who reported to the Secretary of War. The first chief of staff moved his headquarters to Fort Myer in 1908, the rank listed is the rank when serving in the office. Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army Army Staff Senior Warrant Officer Sergeant Major of the Army Bell, appendix B, Chronological List of Senior Officers of the United States Army. Commanding Generals and Chiefs of Staff 1775-2005, Portraits & Biographical Sketches of the United States Armys Senior Officer, United States Army Center of Military History. Commanding Generals and Chiefs of Staff 1775-2005, Portraits & Biographical Sketches of the United States Armys Senior Officer, United States Army Center of Military History. Chief of Staff, Prewar Plans and Preparations, United States Army in World War II. United States Army Center of Military History, - full text The short film Big Picture, Top Soldier is available for free download at the Internet Archive

36.
Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army
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The Vice Chief of Staff generally handles the day-to-day administration of the Army Staff, freeing the Chief of Staff to attend to the interservice responsibilities of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. By statute, the Vice Chief of Staff is appointed as a general in the United States Army while so serving. The incumbent Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, since August 2014, is General Daniel B, under the supervision and direction of the Secretary of the Army the Vice Chief of Staff assists the Chief of Staff on missions and functions related to their duties. The Vice Chief of Staff also assists the Chief of Staff in the management/oversight of U. S. Army installations, the Vice Chief of Staff is the designated Army representative to the Joint Requirements Oversight Council. If the Chief of Staff is incapacitated or otherwise relieved of duty, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army is appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, from among the general officers of the Army

37.
List of United States Army four-star generals
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This is a complete list of four-star generals in the United States Army, past and present. The rank of general is the highest rank normally achievable in the U. S. Army and it ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army. There have been 231 four-star generals in the history of the U. S. Army, generals entered the Army via several paths,150 were commissioned via the U. S. S. The list is sortable by last name, date of rank, number of years of active-duty service at four-star rank, year commissioned, in 1775, George Washington was appointed General and Commander in Chief of the United Colonies and all its forces. In 1798, Washington was commissioned lieutenant general in the U. S. Army, the following year, Congress created the rank of General of the Armies of the United States, but Washington died before accepting it and the rank lapsed until 1866. Washington was finally promoted to General of the Armies in 1976, when Grant resigned his commission to become President in 1869, William T. Sherman was promoted to fill the vacant grade. Congress specified in 1870 that the rank would expire upon Shermans retirement and this title is not to be confused with the later five-star rank of general of the Army. In 1917, the rank of general was recreated in the National Army, March, and the commander of United States forces in France, John J. Pershing. When March replaced Bliss as chief of staff, Bliss was continued in four-star rank by brevet as the U. S. military representative to the Supreme War Council. As with the National Army emergency generals, these appointments expired after the end of the war, the modern rank of general was established by the Officer Personnel Act of 1947, which authorized the President to designate certain positions of importance to carry that rank. Officers appointed to such positions bear temporary four-star rank while so serving, the total number of active-duty four-star generals in the Army is limited to a fixed percentage of the number of Army general officers serving at all ranks. Within the Army, the chief of staff and vice chief of staff are four-star generals by statute, since World War II, the commanders of the Army formations in Europe and East Asia have been designated four-star generals by reason of importance. Other designated four-star Army commands have included the training, readiness. Other joint four-star positions have included unified combatant commanders, certain NATO staff positions, and the theater commanders in Vietnam, Iraq

38.
Sergeant Major of the Army
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The Sergeant Major of the Army is a unique non-commissioned rank and position of office in the United States Army. The SMA is appointed to serve as a spokesman to address the issues of enlisted soldiers to all officers, from warrant officers, as such, he is the senior enlisted advisor to the Chief of Staff of the U. S. Army. The exact duties vary depending on the chief of staff, though much of the SMAs time is spent traveling throughout the Army, observing training and talking with soldiers and their families. Kenneth O. Preston held the rank from 15 January 2004, through 28 February 2011, SMA Raymond F. Chandler III was succeeded by Command Sergeant Major Daniel A. Dailey, on 30 January 2015. While the SMA is an officer, the billet is the protocol equivalent of a lieutenant general. The rank and position were based on those of the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, the Chief of Staff of the Army created the position in 1966 after asking leaders of the major commands for a personal recommendation. He asked that it not be considered a near-retirement type assignment and he listed seven duties and functions he expected the Sergeant Major to perform, including service as a personal adviser and assistant on matters pertaining to enlisted soldiers. From 4,700 proposed candidates,21 nominees were selected, finally chosen was the only one then serving in Vietnam, Sergeant Major William O. Wooldridge of the 1st Infantry Division. These six positions are referred to as senior enlisted advisors. The collar insignia of the SMA is the portion of the collar insignia of an aide-de-camp to the Army Chief of Staff, placed upon an enlisted collar disk of gold color. The insignia worn by SMA Wooldridge was hand-soldered by Colonel Jasper J. Wilson from the cannibalized insignia, the insignia was approved on 4 July 1966. Originally, the SMA would wear the device on each collar and this insignia is also worn in place of a unit insignia on the SMAs beret, garrison cap, and pull-over sweater. The SMAs cap device, worn on the front of the service cap is a gold-colored rendering of the United States coat of arms. The cap device for all other U. S. Army enlisted soldiers is a rendering of the United States coat of arms on a gold-colored disk or surrounded by a gold colored ring. The chief master sergeant of the Air Force has the same cap device as the SMA, first considered in 1992, the SMAs color has been authorized since 22 March 1999. It is based on the design of his insignia and the positional flag of the Chief of Staff. Like the SEACs collar brass, the SEACs positional color was patterned after the SMAs color

United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean,

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Native Americans meeting with Europeans, 1764

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Flag

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The signing of the Mayflower Compact, 1620.

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The Declaration of Independence: the Committee of Five presenting their draft to the Second Continental Congress in 1776

United States Army
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The United States Army is the largest branch of the United States Armed Forces and performs land-based military operations. After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784, the United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army, and dates its institutional inception f

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Storming of Redoubt #10 in the Siege of Yorktown during the American Revolutionary War prompted the British government to begin negotiations, resulting in the Treaty of Paris and British recognition of the United States of America.

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Emblem of the United States Department of the Army

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General Andrew Jackson stands on the parapet of his makeshift defenses as his troops repulse attacking Highlanders during the defense of New Orleans, the final major battle of the War of 1812

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The Battle of Gettysburg, the turning point of the American Civil War

173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team
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The 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team is an airborne infantry brigade combat team of the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy. It is the United States European Commands conventional airborne strategic response force for Europe, activated in 1915, as the 173d Infantry Brigade, the unit saw service in World War I, but is best known for its act

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Combat service identification badge

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173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team shoulder sleeve insignia

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Paratroopers patrolling along the Song Be during Operation Silver City, March 1966.

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Specialist Six Lawrence Joel from the 173rd Brigade, receiving the Medal of Honor

Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular

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The Nebra sky disk is dated to c. 1600 BC.

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Flag

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Martin Luther (1483–1546) initiated the Protestant Reformation.

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Foundation of the German Empire in Versailles, 1871. Bismarck is at the center in a white uniform.

World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directl

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Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the Battle of Wanjialing, Australian 25-pounder guns during the First Battle of El Alamein, German Stuka dive bombers on the Eastern Front in December 1943, a U.S. naval force in the Lingayen Gulf, Wilhelm Keitel signing the German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad

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The League of Nations assembly, held in Geneva, Switzerland, 1930

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Adolf Hitler at a German National Socialist political rally in Weimar, October 1930

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Italian soldiers recruited in 1935, on their way to fight the Second Italo-Abyssinian War

Operation Enduring Freedom
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Operation Enduring Freedom comprises several subordinate operations, Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan, lasted from October 2001 to 31 December 2014. Government used the term Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan to officially describe the War in Afghanistan, continued operations in Afghanistan by the United States military forces, both n

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During Operation El Dorado in May 2004, U.S. Marines from Alpha Company, Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, startle the owner of a compound who refused to open his door for a search.

89th Cavalry Regiment (United States)
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The 89th Cavalry Regiment is a Regiment of the United States Army first established in 1940. Constituted 1 June 1940 in the Regular Army as the 10th Antitank Battalion, redesignated 99th Antitank Battalion,11 June 1940. Redesignated 99th Infantry Battalion and activated at Fort Lewis Wa.1 July 1940, redesignated 99th Infantry Antitank Battalion,24

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coat of arms

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Distinctive Unit Insignia

Airborne forces
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Airborne forces are military units, usually light infantry, set up to be moved by aircraft and dropped into battle, typically by parachute. Thus, they can be placed behind enemy lines, and have the capability to deploy almost anywhere with little warning. The formations are limited only by the number and size of their aircraft, so given enough capa

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Parawings worn by members of the British Armed Forces who have undergone Parachute Training at RAF Brize Norton.

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U.S. Air Force airmen from the 720th STG jumping out of a C-130J Hercules aircraft during water rescue training in the Florida panhandle

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Paratroopers from the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division jump from a C-17 Globemaster at Ft. Bragg, N.C., during Exercise Joint Forcible Entry in April 2005.

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Eisenhower speaks with U.S. paratroops of the 502d Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division on the evening of June 5, 1944.

Reconnaissance
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In military operations, reconnaissance is the exploration outside an area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about natural features and enemy presence. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops, ships or submarines, manned/unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, satellites, espionage normally is not reconnaissance, because reco

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A Scimitar as used by armoured reconnaissance regiments of the British Army.

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A two-man JGSDF team mans Kawasaki KLX250 dirt bikes in the reconnaissance role during a public demonstration.

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U.S. Seabee Engineer Reconnaissance Team on a mission to determine if a bridge can be used to support troop and convoy movements

173rd Airborne Brigade
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The 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team is an airborne infantry brigade combat team of the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy. It is the United States European Commands conventional airborne strategic response force for Europe, activated in 1915, as the 173d Infantry Brigade, the unit saw service in World War I, but is best known for its act

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Combat service identification badge

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173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team shoulder sleeve insignia

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Paratroopers patrolling along the Song Be during Operation Silver City, March 1966.

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Specialist Six Lawrence Joel from the 173rd Brigade, receiving the Medal of Honor

1st Cavalry Division (United States)
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The 1st Cavalry Division is a combined arms division and is one of the most decorated combat divisions of the United States Army, as well as the other four branches of the U. S. military. It is based at Fort Hood, Texas, as of 2013, the 1st Cavalry Division is subordinate to III Corps and is commanded by Major General John C. Thomson III. The histo

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Standard organization chart for a cavalry division in November 1940

North Africa
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North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of Africa. The United Nationss definition of Northern Africa is, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, the countries of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya are often collectively referred to as the Maghreb, which is the Arabic word for sunset. Egypt lies to the northeast and enco

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Market of Biskra in Algeria, 1899

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Northern Africa (UN subregion)

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The kasbah of Aït Benhaddou in Morocco

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The first Roman emperor native to North Africa was Septimius Severus, born in Leptis Magna in present-day Libya.

Sicily
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Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous Region of Italy, along with surrounding minor islands, Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Eur

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Mount Etna rising over suburbs of Catania

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Sicily Sicilia

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Sicilian landscape

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Location of the Salso

Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is refe

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The Colosseum in Rome, built c. 70 – 80 AD, is considered one of the greatest works of architecture and engineering of ancient history.

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Flag

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The Iron Crown of Lombardy, for centuries symbol of the Kings of Italy.

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Castel del Monte, built by German Emperor Frederick II, UNESCO World Heritage site

USAG Schweinfurt
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United States Army Garrison Schweinfurt was a United States Army military community located in and around Schweinfurt, Germany from 1945 to 2014. The garrison comprised two installations, two housing areas, and two training areas in Pfändhausen, to the north of Schweinfurt as well as Sulzheim,15 minutes to the south of Schweinfurt. Cold War-era ins

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USAG Schweinfurt Ledward Barracks HQ Building

Schweinfurt
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Schweinfurt is a city in the Lower Franconia region of Bavaria in Germany on the right bank of the navigable Main River, which is spanned by several bridges here,27 km northeast of Würzburg. The city was first documented in the year 790, although as early as 740 a settlement called Villa Suinfurde was mentioned, in the 10th century Schweinfurt was

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Market square with town hall

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A USAAF raid on ball-bearing works in Schweinfurt in 1943

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The SKF building, a widely visible symbol for the ball bearing production in Schweinfurt

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Schweinfurt town hall

International Security Assistance Force
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From 2006 to 2011, ISAF had become increasingly involved in more intensive combat operations in southern and eastern Afghanistan. Troop contributors included the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, other NATO member states, the intensity of the combat faced by contributing nations varied greatly, with the United States sustaining the most cas

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ISAF's military terminal at Kabul International Airport in September 2010.

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Official logo of ISAF

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Geographic depiction of the four ISAF stages (January 2009).

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Anaconda Strategy vs the insurgents as of 2010-10-20.

Afghanistan
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Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 32 million, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the n

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History of Afghanistan

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Flag

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Bilingual (Greek and Aramaic) edict by Emperor Ashoka from the 3rd century BCE discovered in the southern city of Kandahar

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One of the Buddhas of Bamiyan. Buddhism was widespread in the region before the Islamic conquest of Afghanistan.

Nuristan
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Nuristan, also spelled Nurestan or Nooristan, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. It is divided into seven districts and has a population of about 140,900, Parun serves as the provincial capital. It was formerly known as Kafiristan until the inhabitants were converted from a form of ancient Hinduis

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A river in Nuristan province

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History of Afghanistan

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A U.S. soldier moving along a path overlooking the mountainside village of Aranas while on patrol in 2006.

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Members of the Afghan National Army (ANA) during a U.S.-led patrol in Wadawu valley during Operation Silver Creek in August 2009.

Kunar Province
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Kunar is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. It has a population of about 428,800 and it is one of the four N2KL provinces. Kunar is the center of the N2KL region, Kunar is birthplace of Sayyed Jamaluddin Afghani a very influential Muslim scholar and philosopher. Kunar province is located in the

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Watapur District of Kunar Province in 2012

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View of the Korangal Valley

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History of Afghanistan

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Panorama picture of a mountain range in Afghanistan, Naray

Paktika
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Paktika is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southeastern part of the country. It has a population of about 413,800, which is a tribal society. The town of Sharana serves as the capital while the largest town is Urgun. Paktika sits adjacent to Durand Line border between Pakistan and Afghanistan and it is bordered by the Khost a

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The Afghan national flag overlooks a valley from an observation post at Paktika province in Afghanistan

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History of Afghanistan

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A convoy with members of Task Force 2-28, 172nd Infantry Brigade and the Afghan National Army winds its way through a small valley on its way back to Forward Operating Base Orgun-E from Combat Outpost Zerok

Logar Province
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Logar is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern section of the country. It is divided into seven districts and contains hundreds of villages, Puli Alam is the capital of the province. As of 2013, Logar has a population of about 373,100 and it is a multi-ethnic tribal society, with about 60% belonging to the Pashtun group and

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Aerial view of Mohammad Agha District in Logar province

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Maurya Empire under Ashoka the Great

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Newly excavated Buddhist stupa at Mes Aynak in Logar Province of Afghanistan. Similar stupas have been discovered in neighboring Ghazni Province, including in the northern Samangan Province.

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The main river valley in the Khoshi District of Logar province. Extensive irrigation and canal works, known as karez, provide water for the majority of the agriculture in southeastern Afghanistan.

NATO
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party,

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The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949 and was ratified by the United States that August.

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Flag

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The German Bundeswehr provided the largest element of the allied land forces guarding the frontier in Central Europe.

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Reforms made under Mikhail Gorbachev led to the end of the Warsaw Pact.

Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th larges

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Earliest known contemporary depiction of a Polish ruler; King Mieszko II Lambert of Poland being presented with a Liturgical book by Matilda of Swabia, 1025–1031

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Drawing of the Battle of Grunwald, which was fought against the German Order of Teutonic Knights, 15 July 1410

Czech Republic
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The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a nation state in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres with mostly temperate continental climate and it is a unitary parliamentary republic, has 10.5 million i

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Přemysl Ottokar II, King of Bohemia (1253–1278) and Duke of Austria (1251–1278)

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Flag

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The Crown of Saint Wenceslas is the 4th oldest in Europe

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The Defenestration of Prague sparked the Thirty Years' War

France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territ

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One of the Lascaux paintings: a horse – Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC

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Flag

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The Maison Carrée was a temple of the Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the Roman Empire.

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With Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the Frankish monarchy, elective and secular until then, became hereditary and of divine right.

Lithuania
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Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in Northern Europe. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.9 million people as of 2015,

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Trakai Island Castle

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Flag

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Battle of Grunwald and Vytautas the Great in the centre

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The original 20 members of the Council of Lithuania after signing the Act of Independence of Lithuania, 16 February 1918.

Latvia
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Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe, one of the three Baltic states. It is bordered by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, Latvia has 1,957,200 inhabitants and a territory of 64,589 km2. The country has a seasonal climate. Latvia is a parliamentary republic es

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Turaida Castle near Sigulda, built in 1214 under Albert of Riga.

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Flag

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Kārlis Ulmanis

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Red Army troops enter Riga (1940).

Estonia
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Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia, across the Baltic Sea lies Sweden in the west and Finland in the north. The territory of Estonia consists of a mainland and 2,222 islands and is

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Tools made by Kunda culture, Estonian History Museum

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Iron Age artifacts of a hoard from Kumna

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A stylised viking ship on the Estonian 1 Kroon from 1934

Romania
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Romania is a sovereign state located in Southeastern Europe. It borders the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia and it has an area of 238,391 square kilometres and a temperate-continental climate. With over 19 million inhabitants, the country is the member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth-

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Neacșu's letter from 1521, the oldest surviving document written in Romanian.

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Flag

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Writ issued on 14 October 1465 by Radu cel Frumos, from his residence in Bucharest, indicating Ottoman victory.

United States Army branch insignia
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Army branch insignia is similar to the line officer and staff corps officer devices of the United States Navy as well as to the Navy enlisted rating badges. The Medical, Nurse, Dental, Veterinary, Medical Service, Medical Specialist, Chaplains, the first use of Army branch insignia was just prior to the American Civil War in 1858 for use on the bla

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Chaplain Corps - Hindu Faith CH

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Army badge. War badge.

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Insignia for an aide to a Brigadier General

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Insignia for an aide to a Major General

Cavalry (United States)
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The United States Cavalry, or U. S. Cavalry, was the designation of the mounted force of the United States Army from the late 18th to the early 20th century. Cavalry is also used in the name of the 1st Cavalry Division for heraldic/lineage/historical purposes, originally designated as United States Dragoons, the forces were patterned after cavalry

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Mid 19th century U.S. Cavalrymen, in their most remembered form.

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Cavalry branch plaque

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Private of the 3rd Continental Light Dragoons during the American Revolution.

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Captain Charles A. May 's squadron of the 2d Dragoons slashes through the Mexican Army lines.

United States Army Institute of Heraldry
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The United States Army Institute of Heraldry, also known as The Institute of Heraldry, furnishes heraldic services to the U. S. Armed Forces and other U. S. government organizations, including the Executive Office of the President, limited research and information services concerning official symbolic items are also provided to the general public.

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United States Army Institute of Heraldry

United States Secretary of the Army
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The Secretary of the Army is nominated by the President and confirmed by the U. S. Senate, the Secretary of the Army is a non-Cabinet position serving under the Secretary of Defense. Robert M. Speer took office as Acting Secretary on January 20,2017 and he will perform his duties until the U. S. Senate confirms a new Army Secretary, Karl M. Schneid

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Mr. Thomas E. Hawley is performing the duties of the Under Secretary of the United States Army, effective November 03, 2015, official photo attached. (U.S. Army photo by Alfredo Barraza/Released)

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Flag of the Under Secretary of the Army

Chief of Staff of the United States Army
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The Chief of Staff of the Army is a statutory office held by a four-star general in the United States Army. As the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army, the CSA is the military advisor. The CSA is typically the officer on active-duty in the U. S. Army unless the Chairman and/or the Vice Chairman of the Joint

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Incumbent GEN Mark A. Milley since August 14, 2015

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Flag of the Chief of Staff of the Army

Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army
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The Vice Chief of Staff generally handles the day-to-day administration of the Army Staff, freeing the Chief of Staff to attend to the interservice responsibilities of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. By statute, the Vice Chief of Staff is appointed as a general in the United States Army while so serving. The incumbent Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, si

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Incumbent GEN Daniel B. Allyn since August 15, 2014

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Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army

3.
4.

List of United States Army four-star generals
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This is a complete list of four-star generals in the United States Army, past and present. The rank of general is the highest rank normally achievable in the U. S. Army and it ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army. There have been 231 four-star generals in the history of the U. S. Army, generals entered the Army via several p

Sergeant Major of the Army
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The Sergeant Major of the Army is a unique non-commissioned rank and position of office in the United States Army. The SMA is appointed to serve as a spokesman to address the issues of enlisted soldiers to all officers, from warrant officers, as such, he is the senior enlisted advisor to the Chief of Staff of the U. S. Army. The exact duties vary d

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Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) and former Chairman John Warner (R-VA) listen to Admiral Mike Mullen 's confirmation hearing before the Armed Services Committee to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in July 2007. The Armed Services Committee is the prime scene of discussion regarding U.S. military in the Senate.

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In June 2009, Armed Services Committee senators Joe Lieberman, Carl Levin (chair), and John McCain, listen to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus deliver his opening remarks for the fiscal year 2010 budget request in June 2009.

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Colonel Debra Lewis, the Gulf Region Division Central District commander with Sheik O'rhaman Hama Raheem, an Iraqi councilman, celebrate the opening of a new women's center in Assriya Village that the Corps helped construct in 2006.

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USACE Logo

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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Dredge Tauracavor 3 in New York Harbor.

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Fighting with the 2nd Inf. Div. north of the Chongchon River, SFC Major Cleveland, weapons squad leader, points out Communist-led North Korean position to his machine gun crew, 20 November 1950, PFC James Cox.

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New Guinea. Radio Operator, Cpl. John Robbins of Louisville, Nebraska, 41st Signal, 41st Infantry Division, operating his SCR 188 in a sandbagged hut at Station NYU. Dobodura, New Guinea on 9 May 1943.

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Argosy Lemal c. 1940, one of two Australian vessels acquired by the SWPA chief signal officer for the SWPA CP fleet.